Seán Mac Diarmada

Upload to this page

Add your photos, text, videos, etc. to this page.


  • People and Places in Leitrim



Early Years

Killtyclogher

Photograph of Kiltyclogher Village in 1890’s. Sean MacDiarmada would have played in these streets as child around this time.

Leitrim County Library
Killtyclogher
Leitrim County Library

Killtyclogher

Photograph of Kiltyclogher Village in 1890’s. Sean MacDiarmada would have played in these streets as child around this time.

Leitrim County Library
Enlarge image

Seán Mac Diarmada was born in 1883 near Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim. He was the eighth of ten children born to Daniel and Mary McDermott. The family home was a small thatched cottage in the townland of Laughty Barr, also known locally as Scregg.

Mac Diarmada's first job was, for a short time, as an assistant gardener in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Seán Mac Diarmada's House

Photograph of Seán Mac Diarmada's House in the townland of Laughty Barr, Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim in times past.

Leitrim County Library
Seán Mac Diarmada's House
Leitrim County Library

Seán Mac Diarmada's House

Photograph of Seán Mac Diarmada's House in the townland of Laughty Barr, Kiltyclogher, Co. Leitrim in times past.

Leitrim County Library
Enlarge image
He later went to Belfast to work as a conductor on the Belfast tramway system. It was around this time that he became interested and active in nationalist politics. He was sworn into the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), and was also extremely active in the Gaelic League and Sinn Féin. He moved to Dublin in 1908, where he became close to fellow IRB member, Tom Clarke.

Seán Mac Diarmada as a Young Man

Picture of a young Seán Mac Diarmada (1883-1916).

Leitrim County Library
Seán Mac Diarmada as a Young Man
Leitrim County Library

Seán Mac Diarmada as a Young Man

Picture of a young Seán Mac Diarmada (1883-1916).

Leitrim County Library
Enlarge image

Seán Mac Diarmada After his Release from Mountjoy Jail

Photograph of Seán Mac Diarmada after his release from Mountjoy Jail in 1915.

Leitrim County Library
Seán Mac Diarmada After his Release from Mountjoy Jail
Leitrim County Library

Seán Mac Diarmada After his Release from Mountjoy Jail

Photograph of Seán Mac Diarmada after his release from Mountjoy Jail in 1915.

Leitrim County Library
Enlarge image

Sinn Féin

The Sinn Féin party was set up in 1905. In 1907, Seán Mac Diarmada was appointed its organiser and director of elections in the north Leitrim area. Seán became a dominant figure in the revolutionary movement at local and national level from 1908. He travelled the length and breadth of the country to make speeches at meetings to rally volunteers for the cause of Irish freedom.

After one such meeting, held in Tuam, Co. Galway, he was arrested and imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail. Following his release he continued as before and in 1916 the tempo of revolutionary affairs increased. Seán MacDiarmada was one of the seven signatories of the famous 1916 Proclamation.